‘The mushrooms made an unexpected comeback and all the accumulated confusion of the day burst in upon us and left us stranded in an alien city’.
Although Dave was English and lived in Milan, we—Dazed and I—called him Amsterdam Dave because that’s where we met him, in Amsterdam. We were there for the fortieth birthday of our friend Matt. Matt doesn’t live in Amsterdam either but his wife, Alexandra, had booked them into a suite at the…
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Even experienced users get scared because it’s so far out.’
Geoff Dyer on ageing and understanding the self.
‘All my religious experiences—if we can call them that—have been drug-related.’
‘My life is full of regrets – I sometimes think I regret everything about my life – but I’ve never regretted the time spent riding the rails of Thatcher’s Britain.’
Geoff Dyer on conducting market research in the eighties.
‘Now that we were out of danger it seemed possible that there had never been any danger.’
‘I wonder sometimes when this cycle of violence began. When was year zero?’
